Plessy v. Ferguson: The Other Opinion

The court ruling of Plessy v. Ferguson is one you can find in your high school history books, and if you grew up in New York like me, you probably encountered it on you U.S. History regents exam. If there's one thing most kids remember from this case it's the coining of the idea of "separate but equal" AKA one of the most discriminatory rulings in United States history. 

Now, a lot is known about this case and it's outcome, but what about the opinion of the court that didn't make the headline? What about the dissent?

Although the majority opinion of the court was presented but Justice Henry B. Brown, another judge on the case possessed an opinion which contradicted the ruling. Justice John Marshall Harlan authored the dissent of the Plessy v. Ferguson case. In his dissent he says "If a white man and a black man choose to occupy the same public conveyance on a public highway, it is their right to do so, and no government, proceeding alone on grounds of race, can prevent it without infringing the personal liberty of each.", meaning that separate but equal isn't really equal at all.

Harlan makes a good argument, an argument so precise that it is still applicable to race issues that continue to trouble this country today. Although his opinion that "The white race deems itself to be the dominant race in this country" probably wasn't one of much popularity among many people of power in 1896, the truth of his statement still rings true today. 

Perhaps one of the most powerful statements, in my opinion, from Judge Harlans dissent is the following: "Our Constitution is color-blind, and neither knows nor tolerates classes among citizens." Overall, what this dissent is saying is that the color of one skin, among other characteristics beyond physical appearance, should not justify discrimination. 

Thankfully, this discriminatory ruling of Plessy v. Ferguson was counteracted by the case of Brown vs. the Board of Education, and with this ruling and other political actions, the U.S. is on it's way to becoming the type of country Judge Harlan believed it should have been 120 years ago.